European law

European Union (EU) law, as the name suggests, is law emanating from the EU. It covers pretty much all fields of activity from terrorist sanctions to tax and immigration to intellectual property. A specialist in EU law has to be ready to deal with it in the UK courts or in the EU courts in Luxembourg.

A European law barrister's work

There is no typical EU law case in the domestic courts; EU law gets cited in all sorts of circumstances. It depends on how important the EU law issue is as to whether or not you will be brought in as a specialist. For instance, if some immigration rules were implementing an EU scheme, their interpretation might turn on the way the EU law works and so specialist advice and advocacy could be useful. Written advocacy is important in EU proceedings.

'The biggest UK litigant in Luxembourg is the UK government; it intervenes in lots of cases.'

Cases in Luxembourg can take eighteen months to two years. There will be an intense burst of activity when the case starts –when barristers must prepare initial written submissions – and another burst responding to later pleadings. There is then generally a pause before an oral hearing. EU law is one of the easiest areas for managing work/life balance because there are long lead times and specific, immovable deadlines. In the run up to a detailed submission you might work some long hours, but generally not.

EU law is not court heavy. You would not expect your EU practice to take more than a day or two a month in court on average. You can have a lot of EU cases on at once because they take so long to go through the Luxembourg courts. The oral hearings are quite unusual for anyone with experience of UK courts: the longest speaking time you will probably get is half an hour.

The biggest UK litigant in Luxembourg is the UK government; it intervenes in lots of cases. There are also numerous private client cases each year but given the range of subject matter the client could be a multinational company or a suspected terrorist.

The highlights of this area of practice include dealing with complex legal problems – often with potentially wide ramifications – within an unusual procedure. On the downside, cases are dormant for long periods between bursts of activity. No-one at the Bar does purely EU work; they do other things as well such as public law, competition law and employment law. In total you will probably have between 15 and 30 matters ‘alive’ at any one time.

Recent developments in European law

Currently there are various cases testing whether the Lisbon Treaty (the substitute for the rejected EU constitution) has any significant impact on EU law. There are also a large number of sanctions cases before the EU courts, testing whether the EU institutions can apply Europe-wide sanctions against suspected terrorists or those associated with the Burmese or Zimbabwean regimes.

Is European law recession-proof?

So far the area has seemed relatively recession-proof but pure EU law is a very narrow specialism: barristers working in EU law will combine that work with other (sometimes related) areas of law. For example, some aspects of competition law were once solely matters of EU law, but they are now also dealt with under national law, dealt with in national courts or tribunals so you might do general competition work as well as EU.

What skills do European law barristers need?

• Analytical skills.
• The ability to deal with abstract concepts.
• A practical approach.
• Teamwork skills.
• The ability to draft concise, persuasive written submissions.

Pupillages in European law

Pupils will get involved in legal research on EU law (reviewing textbooks and doing case searches); drafting observations to the Luxembourg courts; and attending conferences with clients.

Opportunities for early responsibility are fairly limited – you are unlikely to get second six advocacy practice in Luxembourg.

Types of law practised

• European.

Daniel Beard is a barrister at Monckton Chambers. He has an MA from the University of Cambridge, a BCL (bachelor of civil law) from the University of Oxford and was called to the Bar in 1996. His practice includes competition, European, and administrative law.